The Environmental Protection Agency announced its plan to reduce carbon emissions from existing power plants nationwide. States will decide how to meet the goals set by the EPA according to the Kansas Health Institute.
Kansas is to reduce emission by 23 percent over the next 15 years.
63% of electricity in Kansas is generated from coal.
Governor Sam Brownback denounced the proposed regulations in a recent statement.
“Today’s news that the EPA will be imposing even more expensive regulations on Kansas utilities, and doing so without approval from Congress, is very troubling as it further disrupts the balance that must be achieved between protecting the environment and growing the economy,” Brownback said.
Sen. Pat Roberts vowed to try to prevent the rule from being finalized.
Congressman Tim Huelskamp’s district includes the Sunflower Electric generating station near Holcomb. He expressed concerns about the regulations in a released statement.
“For Kansans, particularly customers of Sunflower in Kansas’ First District, these proposals would be devastating if implemented. As Obama promised in 2008, our electricity rates will skyrocket because of his unscientific, politics-driven regulations. The result will be fewer jobs in rural Kansas, less economic opportunities for our graduates, and a reduced ability to compete with foreign companies.”
Huelskamp also said, “ This proposal is devastating not only to the American and Kansas economies, it is also a real threat to our Constitution.”
The entire Huelskamp statement is available from the Hays Daily News.
States are to submit their carbon reduction plans to the EPA by June 2016.